Breaking news

Report reveals Australian fashion retailers are unsure if child labour is used to make their products

By Danuta Kozaki and staffUpdated
Mon 19 Aug 2013, 3:04 PM AEST

Photo

The garment industry has come under close scrutiny since a deadly factory collapse in Bangladesh this year.

Reuters

A report by an international aid agency has found that most Australian fashion retailers do not know whether forced child labour is being used to make fabrics used in their garments.

The Australian Fashion Report, which is the culmination of two years of research by Baptist World Aid, assessed the ethical practices of 41 companies and 128 clothing brands.

Baptist World Aid Australia spokesman Gershon Nimbalker says that he is troubled by the findings in the report.

"If companies don't know, or don't care, who is producing their clothes, it's much harder to know whether workers are exploited or even enslaved," he said.

"While 39 per cent of companies knew all, or almost all, of the suppliers involved at the factory level, that number dropped dramatically to 7 per cent at the raw materials stage of production."

The report found 12 per cent of companies received an A rating for their labour rights management systems, and 5 per cent of companies had fully implemented policies to ensure their employees received a living wage.

Mr Nimbalker says cotton is a particular problem.

"[In] nine out of 10 of the biggest cotton producers there have been reports of child labour," he said.

"Uzbekistan is the probably the worst."

The Australian Retailers Association's Russell Zimmerman says there is no need to introduce new laws aimed at preventing the use of overseas forced child labour in the clothing supply chain.

"I don't think you've got to make a law about this," he said.

"Realistically, retailers will do something about it to ensure their supply chain [is ethical] and to ensure their customers realise their supply chain is ethical."

Mr Zimmerman says many companies are changing their practices after a clothing factory collapsed in Bangladesh earlier this year.

The report awarded Australian brands Etiko and 3Fish with A+, the highest rating in relation to fair trade.